Aftermaths
by Gabygoo
Summary: A collection of short stories about various characters dealing with the events of the Cell Games. Fighting and dealing with aliens may be difficult, but dealing with grief is even harder.


**[This is a selection of short stories dealing with the aftermath of the Cell Games. It's mostly about Gohan and how he deals with his grief, but each character is from a different perspective. I update this whenever I get a good idea. Perhaps people might be OOC, considering these stories imply that the events of the Cell Saga DO affect them. But I'm just trying the realistic approach.]**

Outside, the storm raged on.

Chi-Chi had never enjoyed the rain and the piercing cold. Of course, she hated extreme heat even less. The sun brought the heat, and the heat brought back memories of her and her father desperately trying to escape from their palace in the mountains after it had become alight with flames. They were forced out of their home, and so it had remained for years…until a certain old master destroyed the fire, and the palace, with what Chi-Chi now knew was called a Kamehameha.

Even so, she couldn't sleep. The thunder boomed in her ears, and the bolts of lightning could be seen through her window. The rain and the wind were so intense; she was almost worried that the house itself would be blown away.

Chi-Chi unconsciously turned in her bed, and sighed once she saw the empty place beside her – the place normally occupied by Goku.

 _Goku…_

Her husband was dead, and this time, he definitely wasn't coming back.

Everyone had tried to explain it as calmly and as logically as possible. In the fight against Cell, Goku sacrificed his life to stop the alien monster from destroying the planet. A fitting end for the defender of Earth, they had all agreed. And, while they could have taken another trip to Namek to wish him back with the Dragon Balls, Goku had refused. _The world's safer when I'm not around,_ he had told them. _And, besides, Gohan's more reliable than I could ever be._

Every time Goku was mentioned, it was as if a huge weight would start pressing itself onto her heart. _Goku…_ the naïve boy who she had married. Gone forever.

She loved him. She had loved him. And now he was dead.

While Gohan had done his best to tell her graciously, it hadn't stopped Chi-Chi from the worst of the grief. All she could do was let the tears flow, collapsed on the ground, while her son – _their_ son – tried to comfort her.

That had been 2 weeks ago, and the feelings hadn't gotten much better. Even with Goku's frequent absences, Chi-Chi still expected to see his familiar, smiling face as she turned over in the bed. Every morning she looked at the empty space, and she knew there was a hole in her heart that could never be filled again.

But at least she still had Gohan.

He tried his best to put on a brave face, but Chi-Chi knew he was suffering just as much as she was. Or perhaps even more than her. Some of Goku's friends had arrived shortly after his death, explaining what Gohan had done. Piccolo in particular stressed that Gohan might have been blaming himself for Goku's death.

She would have been lying if she said she understood all the details. Most of what they said went over her head, and she didn't _want_ an explanation. But from what she could tell, it had something to do with Gohan's power. He had gotten so powerful he no longer listened to reason.

Groggily, Chi-Chi decided to check on her son. The storm was still shaking up the house. What if he was frightened? Would he be frightened? Perhaps he was, and he just didn't want to tell her!

"Gohan?"

The window was open. Sudden realisation dawned on her. _Gohan left through the window. He probably…he probably_ flew _outside._

She ran out, and stuck her head out the window, searching. "Gohan!" she bellowed over the sound of the roaring wind. "Where _are_ you?"

Chi-Chi wasn't expecting Gohan to hear her. He was…Chi-Chi didn't know where he would be, but surely it wouldn't be anywhere close.

But, to her surprise, a small figure hovered down from the roof. A small, blonde-haired, green-eyed figure.

It always took Chi-Chi a few moments for her brain to fully process that, yes, _this was Gohan_. Just like Goku, Gohan could transform. She hated it. She hated the very sight of it, _especially_ on her son. But Gohan had slowly been realising that, even if she disapproved, she couldn't stop him. She couldn't stop him from doing anything.

First he looked like a rebel, and now he was acting like one. If she wasn't so grief-stricken, it would be her worst nightmares coming true.

"Gohan!" she exclaimed. "What were you _doing_? Get down here, at once! You're going to catch a cold!"

His expression vacant, the Super Saiyan Gohan returned to normal, and hesitantly flew back inside from the open window.

Immediately, Chi-Chi grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him outside. "Come on! You must be freezing! Sit down by the fire!"

"I wasn't cold," said Gohan quietly.

"I don't care!" And, despite Gohan's hesitations, Chi-Chi sat him down by the fireplace as she lit the fire. And then, for good measure, she brought a towel and placed it around his soaking wet body.

Gohan looked like he wanted to wriggle away. "I told you, mom," he repeated. "I'm not-"

And then he shivered. It was a large shiver, going through his whole body. Gohan himself seemed surprised that it had happened.

But, hesitantly, he then decided moving closer to the fire was a good idea.

Chi-Chi was confused. Had he seriously _not_ felt the cold? But _everyone_ felt the cold, didn't they? Except he had transformed. Maybe when his hair was dyed like that, he didn't feel cold?

She decided not to dwell on it. That just sounded _wrong_.

"Where _were_ you?" demanded Chi-Chi. She was vigorously rubbing his hair with the towel, trying to dry it.

"I was…watching," Gohan answered.

"Watching?"

"The storm," said Gohan. "I was on the roof. You can see a lot from there. And I could see the storm. Ever time the lightning cracked…I could see it."

Chi-Chi blinked. "You wanted to watch the storm?"

Gohan nodded. "And then, when I saw the lightning, I thought…I can do that, too. That…that's my power."

His expression was completely unreadable. It was like he didn't feel anything at all. But Chi-Chi understood. He was still grieving. And standing on the roof in the middle of the rain, watching a huge storm, was some way her son was dealing with it.

"Gohan…" she sighed.

Gohan turned around.

"We all miss him. We all miss your father."

Gohan smiled. But the smile didn't meet his eyes. They were the black eyes of a boy who had seen too much.

"I know, mom," he answered.

And then he pulled the towel closer to himself, still shivering.


End file.
